Pullip Regeneration Paja: Makeover

I've always thought that Regeneration Paja was as cute as a button as is, but unfortunately, her wig left me a bit disappointed with it's poor quality. Because of that, I had planned to buy my Mikan a new one as soon as I had taken her out of her box and saw how bad it was, but I kept procrastinating and getting distracted with buying more dolls to add to my collection instead, but then I got Evangeline (my Raphia) and dove right into customizing her, and after I had finished her, I was inspired to finally start working on Mikan! I purchased an orange wig for her, and I also ended up buying her some beautiful green eyechips with some yellow and brown mixed in from KiraKiraMeansSparkle! (The exact ones I had bought were in the color Frog.) Then, I thought that since I was going to end up taking her apart to change out her eyechips, why not paint her eyelids? I always thought it would be nice if her eyelids were a fun color instead of just plain, and that it would add a nice personal touch!

I wanted her eyelids to match her faceup and her overall color scheme, so I decided to paint them yellow, and then I brushed on green pastel at the bottom of each lid to create a gradient effect! 

Brushed on some gloss varnish to finish off her eyelids after I had finished painting them!

After doing all of that, and after having given her new lashes, it was time to put her all back together again! I was amazed with what a difference the new wig and eyes had made in her appearance!

Before:

And after:

She's wearing Isul Nekoneko Maomao's glasses!

While the biggest part of her transformation was finished, I still really wanted to get her a whole new outfit. I really do love her pajamas and her dinosaur kigurumi, but I also felt limited when it came down to taking pictures of her with it on, so I began to shop for clothes for her right away!

I was thrilled to have found her such cute pieces that had the same color scheme as her stock outfit and went well with her faceup! My favorite piece definitely has to be her overalls, which I bought from anniedollz on etsy! It suits her perfectly and is just so cute and well-made! In case anyone was wondering about the rest of her outfit, too, I got her hair clips from MilkChocolateDream, the shirt and the legwarmers from Cool Cat, and her green converse shoes from Mimiwoo! 

I think she turned out really darling, and she looks so vibrant and full of life! Even though I had not made very many changes to her, she definitely has much more personality than she did before, and I couldn't be more happy with how she turned out! I'd say that this makeover turned out very well!

Pullip Youtsuzu: Pullip Makeover - Ichihara Yuuko

Roughly a month ago, I got the idea in my head that I wanted to buy Pullip Youtsuzu for the sole purpose of transforming her into CLAMP's Ichihara Yuuko! I picked Youtsuzu because I thought the accessories and even parts of her outfit would really come in handy, plus, I thought that the way her eye makeup was painted was pretty close to Yuuko's eye shape! I just felt I had to do it no matter what, and so I got started on her right away, and just a couple of days ago, I had completed her! For comparison purposes, here are some pictures of her before I got to work on her!

As you can see, she is a very beautiful and elaborate doll! She's absolutely perfect to keep on display. I was actually almost hesitant to start this project when she had arrived, but I'm glad that I decided to go through with it!

There actually weren't too many changes I did on her to achieve Ichihara Yuuko's look, but it was still a time consuming process. What I had to do was change her wig and style it a bit, replace her eyechips, give her thicker and longer lashes to help make her eyes appear more narrow, remove her blush, and of course, re-do her lips! (The lips were actually the most challenging part, as I used acrylic paint on them. It required a lot of going back and forth painting on multiple layers and then sanding it down to create a smooth, clean, and even appearance, and it was so hard to do all this while trying not to ruin the shape I had created for them!) Also, you guys may not be able to tell in her current outfit, but she was also re-bodied with a large bust 27 cm Obitsu body! I felt it was necessary, considering that Yuuko is fairly busty, but still really slender. 

If you are familiar with Yuuko, then you can see how close this body is to her body type! The only thing it's missing are those long, willowy limbs that CLAMP characters are so well-known for!

I'm actually really happy with the outcome! I personally feel that she quite accurately portrays Yuuko's character! She's already become one of my most favorite customized dolls so far!

Pullip Raphia: Pullip Makeover

After all this time, I finally took the plunge and have started to customize my stock dolls! At first I had been worried about customizing my dolls, but after having done a full faceup and putting together a MIO kit, I've become much more confident and brave in my abilities to modify my dolls! The first girl I had attempted to makeover was my Pullip Raphia, whom I had named Evangeline. Evangeline was a Christmas gift, but I found that I could not really connect with her as I had with my other dolls, and I really felt terrible about that, so I thought maybe changing her look would help!

She underwent quite a dramatic change. The first thing I did was sand off her original lip color. (I used 1200 grit sandpaper to ensure it wouldn't leave scratches or damage her.)  I wasn't very fond of the orange and white colored lips she came with, as they seemed to really clash with her whole look, and I wanted to make her lips more natural. I also felt she needed more color on her cheeks and eyes, so I added more blush and a splash of yellow pastels to the inner corners of her eyes! Using a dark brown watercolor pencil, I also drew on a couple of droopy lashes on her eyes, and with a lighter brown pencil, I placed a beauty mark right below her left eye!

Once finished with her faceup, I replaced her eyechips with some new ones from kirakirameanssparkle (in the color Sidhe)! The new eyes really are so vibrant in color and gave Evangeline a more lively look!  

Next, I gave her a curly light blonde wig with pigtails that I had found on ebay!  Her stock wig really needed to go, as it was really frizzy and coarse. It was very poor quality and it didn't do much for her. I think her new wig is much more flattering and its softer and doesn't get tangled like her old one did. Plus, the style of it is just too cute! Lastly, I changed  her out of her stock dress and into a dress that I had bought on ebay!  I found it while looking for dresses for my Dal Heiwa, but since the dress was originally meant to fit a Blythe, it ended up being too baggy on her. Luckily, the dress fit like a glove on Evangeline and actually looks really good on her!

I'm actually really pleased with how she turned out, and I do love her so much more than I had before! I was really amazed with what a difference such small and easy changes have made in her look! I feel like I have bonded with her more through the whole process, and she is now one of my most favorite dolls in my collection, so I declare her makeover to be a huge success!

Presenting Amethyst, My Very Own Make It Own Pullip!

I've completed my very first Make It Own Pullip doll a few months ago, and I can't believe I forgot to post about it here! I have named her Amethyst, and before I had started working on her, I had already decided that my first custom doll would be a cute pastel goth girl! I wanted her to have a sweet look, but with some edginess mixed in. She actually turned out just how I had envisioned her, so I'm really happy! She's my pride and joy!

Here's a shot of her right after I had finished working on her faceup. I actually have made her eye shadow a darker purple since then, and added more pink to the inner corners of her eyes, but the shape of the eyebrows and the color of the blush and her lips are the same. :3

I chose to do some really bold eyemakeup on her to emphasize her eyes, and made her cheeks and lips a soft pink to add some balance.

I painted her eyelids mint green to help tie in all of the colors together. ^_^

My most recent picture of Amethyst! You can see how much I've darkened her eye makeup in this picture!

To Keep in Stock, or Not to Keep in Stock?

I do not own the rights to either of these photos, but am using them as an example that is relevant to this topic. Both of the dolls pictured above are both one in the same, only one is completely stock and the other is customized. Personally, I think they both look great! 

Earlier just today, while looking to See if There Were any new video uploads from any of my favorite Youtubers, I came across an unboxing video of Pullip IO by Thehollycopter. In the video,  IO is completely stock and then later near the end , she is shown re-wigged and redressed. I didn't think much of it, as there are many Pullip owners who customize their dolls to varying degrees, from changing out eye chips to doing a full custom faceup. When I scrolled down to read the comments, I was really shocked at some of the negative things people had said about the changes she had made ​​to her doll, some people going as far as saying that she had completely ruined the doll by giving her a different wig and not keeping her doll in its stock outfit! Stating your personal opinion is one thing, but being downright rude is another thing altogether.

I can totally understand why some people may not want to make any changes to their dolls and like them as they are; I myself have quite a few dolls in my own collection that I wouldn't even dream of touching. On the other hand, I also have a couple of dolls that I DO plan on making some slight customizations to eventually because * I * think they would be a big help in improving their overall look and make them more to my liking. It's nice to be allowed the option to customize dolls, and it's part of the fun of collecting Pullips, or any doll for that matter. It provides a creative outlet, and gives collectors a chance to express their own tastes and styles and create what in their eyes, is the perfect doll. It's also nice to appreciate a doll exactly the way it is without making any alterations to its appearance. Ultimately, it's all up to the doll owner's decision on what they do with their dolls, and it shouldn't matter to anyone else so long as that person is happy! It's best to just remember that everyone has different tastes and not put anyone down for something that they like.

Now that that's been said, what do you all think? Do you prefer to keep your dolls stock or do you like to customize? If you customize your dolls, do you only change a couple of things or do you make your dolls beyond recognition? What are your reasons for keeping your dolls stock / customizing? I'd love to know, so please feel free to comment and discuss!